


The Miracle of a Single Flower

by inksmith



Category: The Mortal Magic series - Jackbird Lee
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Flowers, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28630020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inksmith/pseuds/inksmith
Summary: Asher Thomas brings home flowers.
Relationships: Asher Thomas/Piccione/The Revenant/Sawyer Woolridge
Kudos: 3
Collections: Holly Poly 2020





	The Miracle of a Single Flower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Always_Sundae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Always_Sundae/gifts).



“Flowers?” 

Piccione sounded so honestly dismayed that, even though flowers couldn’t really be any sort of risk, Sawyer pretty much had to abandon the coffee he was making and go see what was happening. 

Weirdly, all that was happening was Asher Thomas standing in the hallway of his own house, holding a huge bunch of bright yellow and red flowers while Piccione stared at him like he’d brought in a dead rat. 

Actually, Piccione probably wouldn’t have thought that was weird. Sawyer was fairly sure Asher didn’t eat rats, but he was a dragon, anything was possible.

“Why would you bring me flowers?” Piccione actually took a step back as he asked, which just made Asher smile more. Asher, Sawyer was starting to realize after a week of the four of them living together - or maybe just sleeping together? Sawyer wasn’t sure if they’d moved in with Asher or were just staying till the risk of being horribly killed went down, and didn’t really want to ask… Anyway, Asher really liked to tease Piccione, and Piccione really didn’t seem to ever know that he was being teased. It was kind of hilarious, not that Sawyer would ever tell either of them that.

“They’re not for you.” Sawyer was pretty sure Asher was lying when he said that - his eyes kind of crinkled when he was making stuff up, and, lurking in the doorway to the kitchen, Sawyer could just about make out his expression. Whether it was true or not, he plucked a flower - a rose, bright red, like something from a Valentine’s Day commercial - from the bunch and offered it to Piccione. “Take it,” he prompted when Piccione didn’t move. “It won’t bite.”

“You don’t know that,” Piccione said, sulking, but he put the flower behind his ear anyway, fingers lingering for a moment on the petals. 

Asher reached out, brushing the backs of his fingers against Piccione’s cheek, Piccione’s eyes slipping shut at the touch. Sawyer knew that most people would expect anyone watching to turn away at a gesture like that, that it was too intimate to be watched, but at the same time, he knew he was welcome to see - that Asher and Piccione wanted him and the revenant to see. Wanted to be seen.

“And now you, Sawyer,” Asher said, not looking away from Piccione. Sawyer’d known there was no point half-hiding the way he was - Asher saw everything, even if he said he couldn’t see through walls or around corners. 

Piccione didn’t move, not even when Sawyer got close enough to breathe in the smoke-smell that Asher carried with him, mixed with the deep smell of the flowers. Asher plucked a second flower, something yellow, from the bunch, and offered it to Sawyer. 

“Would you put it in my hair for me?” Sawyer still wasn’t totally sure what to make of Asher - he wasn’t like anyone Sawyer had ever known, even if he hadn’t been a dragon - but he knew Asher liked it when Sawyer asked for something, and Sawyer really liked asking, knowing he’d always get a yes in response. 

Asher obliged, fingers brushing hot against Sawyer’s ear as he tucked the flower into place. Sawyer could just make it out in the edge of his peripheral vision; nothing exciting, just a yellow flower with five petals, but it carried Asher’s touch with it, and that made it special.

“Agrimony,” Asher said softly. “Not the prettiest name, but it means gratitude - being thankful.”

Sawyer opened his mouth to ask, then closed it. Obviously Asher meant he was grateful to them for saving his life, or maybe for helping to put his house back together.

“Now,” Asher said, and Sawyer blinked his eyes open, not sure when he’d closed them, “Where is the revenant?”

“Right here.” Last Sawyer had seen him, he’d been in the master bedroom, changing the sheets - now, he was sitting quietly at the bottom of the stairs, his gaze intent on the three of them. Unlike Piccione, who would have asked, all confidence, why he didn’t yet have a flower, or Sawyer himself, who’d have politely demanded his, the revenant just looked on, a faint smile on his lips.

Asher did a sort of stumbling half-step towards him, like he hadn’t expected the revanent to be right there, but recovered within a second, sweeping across the hallway to sit at the revenant’s side. Sawyer wanted to go with him - Sawyer always wanted to be where the revenant was, only slightly more than he always wanted it to be the four of them together - but Piccione didn’t seem like he was ever going to move, only his eyes flicking to follow Asher. Would it be weird to go over there and leave Piccione alone? Or weirder to stay with him? The revenant and Asher didn’t spend much time together alone, but they weren’t really alone, not with Sawyer and Piccione watching. 

“Wait,” Piccione said, too quiet for anyone but Sawyer to hear. “Watch this.”

“For you,”Asher said, presenting the flowers to the revenant.

The revenant just looked at him, like he was waiting for the next part of whatever Asher had to say. When Asher didn’t say anything else, the revenant asked, “Not for your beloved?” just sincere enough that Sawyer couldn’t tell if he was teasing Asher or not.

Asher didn’t look away, held his hand out. “Sawyer, come here, please.”

“Go.” Piccione pushed him gently, but Sawyer still stumbled, only just catching himself before he tipped straight into the revenant’s lap. Which was a perfectly good place to be, but maybe not right now. 

Asher didn’t take Sawyer’s hand, like he’d sort of expected, just put both hands on the flowers he was still offering to the revenant. “Now tell him why I’ve brought you flowers.”

The revenant shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”

Asher smiled, mostly in his eyes, like the revenant was annoying him a bit, but he liked it. “Tell him which you like best.”

“He doesn’t -” Sawyer started, not sure if the revenant was playing along, or annoyed, or confused like Sawyer was.

He didn’t get any further before the revenant said, “Daisies,” all quiet and pleased like he’d been the first time he and Sawyer had sex.

“For patience.” Asher plucked a daisy from the bunch but instead of offering it to the revenant, he turned and held it out to Sawyer. “He’d like it if you gave this to him.”

The revenant, when Sawyer looked at him, had ducked his head. He must have felt Sawyer looking; he looked up from under his eyelashes, just enough for Sawyer to see his eyes, and nodded. 

Still confused, Sawyer took the flower and offered it to the revenant. “Daisy,” he said, like they didn’t all know that. Even he could identify a daisy when one was right in front of him.

The revenant took it, letting their hands linger. Sawyer wasn’t sure what he’d expected the revenant to do with it - smell it, maybe, or put it in his hair like Sawyer and Piccione had. 

He definitely hadn’t expected the revenant to put it in his mouth, or the sweet smile that crossed the revenant’s face as he chewed, and swallowed. Or the faint brush of the revenant’s lips on Sawyer’s fingertips, almost like a kiss, as he said, “Sweet. Like summer.”

“What?” Sawyer said. 

The revenant looked away - Sawyer’d asked too loud, and this was obviously a revenant thing, one of the ones he’d be weird about. 

Sawyer wasn’t the best in social situations, and even less so with his three new friends, but this seemed like it would be easy enough to fix. He took another flower from the bunch, something big and almost fluffy with lots of petals the color of a fall sunset, and offered it to the revenant. 

“A peony,” Piccione said, closer now, and only slightly mocking. It was easier, with Piccione and Asher right there, knowing they wouldn’t just go along with it if Sawyer messed something up the way the revenant would, to fold himself onto the stair above the revenant, let the revenant lean back between Sawyer’s legs, against his chest, and pull a petal from the flower, offering it. 

The revenant didn’t take it from Sawyer’s hand this time. He let Sawyer press the petal to his mouth, his lips parting just enough for Sawyer to slip it inside, his tongue flashing against Sawyer’s fingertips. 

“Like Turkish Delight,” the revenant said quietly.

Sawyer offered him another petal, then a third and a fourth. He could feel Piccione beside him, quiet and watchful in a way Piccione never really was; could smell Asher’s dragon-scent as he held the flowers steady for Sawyer to pick out a tulip, bright yellow, like something a kid would color in; and above all that, he could feel the revenant, the cool stillness of him and the pleasure as Sawyer fed him the flowers and, with each one, he told them, quiet in the calm of the late morning sunshine, what he tasted that none of them could.


End file.
